Hundreds of walkers mark opening of new hospice trail

Samuel Poole

A new public footpath has been launched in aid of hospices across Sussex.

The Sussex Hospices Trail consists of 26 mapped walks which have been created across the length and breadth of the county.

More than 200 miles of coast and countryside has been covered.

Sue Korman, of Friends of Sussex Hospices, who devised the trail, was impressed with the official opening.

She said: “The launch was wonderful with such a sense of camaraderie and goodwill.

“We now plan get the route recognised by Ordnance Survey, allowing for more people to discover it and leaving a permanent legacy of the work of Friends of Sussex Hospices.”

At least 400 walkers took part with the days events.

The youngest walker was eight with the oldest being 81.

Mrs Korman added: “It is absolutely fantastic we had such an enormous amount of interest and goodwill.

“The trails have been ready to walk for about nine months but we wanted to have a day where we did the whole walk with everyone together.

“It was wonderful to see people raise awareness of our 12 hospices.

“I think people may not realise the hospices need to fundraise and they are not fully supported by the NHS.”

The walk was completed in sections with the hundreds of walkers being divided into sections.

Friends of Sussex Hospices (FSH) raises funds, through a variety of activities, to support the running costs of the 12 hospice care providers that serving children and adults across the county.

Kathy Gore OBE, chairman of FSH, said the hospices are crucial for providing support.

She said: “Our hospices provide crucial support to families at extremely challenging times but they all rely on support from their local communities and so we’ve established the Trail to help raise awareness of their vital work.”